Louise Chen

Giant Robot NY has an excellentgroup show entitled “Playful Extremities”, which will open on Saturday,January 16th.  Some great artists (Louise Chen, Hellen Jo, SaraAntoinette Martin, Tran Nguyen, and Sylvia Park) will have new work ondisplay and you should really try to check it out!

Below is all the info on the show and some preview images.  Enjoy!

Playful Extremities

January 16, 2010 – February 3, 2010

Reception: Saturday, January 16, 2010 at 6:30 p.m.Giant Robot Gallery

437 East 9th Street Between 1st Ave. & Ave. A, in the East Village

New York, New York 10009

(212) 674-GRNY (4769) | grny.net

Giant Robot is proud to host Playful Extremities, a group show featuring new works by Louise Chen, Hellen Jo, Sara Antoinette Martin, Tran Nguyen, and Sylvia Park.

Although Louise Chen is freshly graduated from UC Santa Cruz’s art program, her work isuncommonly diverse and realized. She transfers the clean, effortlesslines of her etchings and woodcuts to her drawing, seamlessly insertingthem into otherworldly landscapes rendered with equal craft andtremendous atmosphere.

Hellen Jo was born in Starkville, MS in 1983 and livedin Florida and New Mexico, but is firmly entrenched in NorthernCalifornia, where she plays in indie bands and makes indie comics. Herstyle is loose but attentive–as evidenced in her full-color issues ofJin & Jam, which combine the raw humor and honesty of undergroundcomix with the precision of alternative manga.

Brooklyn-based Sara Antoinette Martin takes familiar subjects of cryptozoology, symbols of Freemasonry, andtattoo flash art and presents them in highly graphic and surreal forms.The bold arrangement of commonly-known-but-mysterious imagery forcesviewers to revisit their preconceptions about truth, legend, andaesthetics.

The surreal art of Tran Nguyen has afaded, antique look, but the subjects are timeless.The Savannah,GA-based artist depicts young, beautiful subjects in darksettings–surrounded by melancholy and/or ectoplasm, if not actuallyemitting them from their pores. The effect is strangely hypnotic andhauntingly beautiful.

Sylvia Park is a New York City-based artist whodepicts an imperfect real world with perfect lines. Using onlycontours, she is able to create out hyper real scenes with depth andfeeling. Her precision line work is highly effective for editorialpurposes publications, but wavers just enough to convey subtle emotionand urge closer viewing in a gallery setting.

Giant Robot was born as a Los Angeles-based magazine about Asian,Asian-American, and new hybrid culture in 1994, but has evolved into afull-service pop culture provider with shops and galleries in LosAngeles, San Francisco, and New York City, as well as an onlineequivalent.

A reception featuring many of the artists will be held from 6:30 to10:00 on Saturday, January 16.

For more information about the artists,GRNY, or Giant Robot magazine, please contact:

Eric Nakamura Giant Robot Owner/Publisher

eric@giantrobot.com (310) 479-7311

Tran Nguyen

Louise Chen

Sara Antoinette Martin

Sara Antoinette Martin